Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Leaders from the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) here are hailing a new report released this week by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM), which claimed food and beverage marketing aimed at kids points them to high-calorie, low-nutrient products.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Leading super-natural retailer Whole Foods Market here yesterday opened a new 55,000-square-foot unit in Belmar, Colo., which, in typical Whole Foods fashion, includes a focus on local and regional foods.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Country Choice Organic, a manufacturer of organic cookies, hot cereal, and oatmeal squares here, has tapped natural/organic industry veteran Jocelyne Greg as East Cost regional manager.

NEW YORK -- VNU Marketing Information, a business unit of VNU, a global information and media company, yesterday acquired Decisions Made Easy (DME), an international company dedicated to helping consumer-packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers effectively manage, analyze, present and act on their sales and supply chain data through the use of its software and services.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--ACNielsen U.S. said yesterday it had completed the expansion of its Homescan consumer panel, the end of a two-year initiative that has more than doubled the size of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry's leading source of consumer and shopper insights.

WASHINGTON -- A new report released yesterday by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM) here claimed food and beverage marketing aimed at kids points them to high-calorie, low-nutrient products. In the industry's defense, GMA, meanwhile, claimed its members were already doing many things to offer kids healthy choices.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- As one of the first M&A deals in what is expected to be an active year for M&A activity in the retail food sector in the coming year, Fresh Brands, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of the Chicago-based grocery wholesale cooperative, Certified Grocers Midwest, Inc. in a transaction valued at approximately $100 million.

NEW YORK -- Although organic and functional foods have generated a healthy amount of interest in the United States in recent years, these categories still have a lot of room to grow -- especially when compared to other markets around the globe. That's the conclusion of global consumer and marketplace information provider ACNielsen, which released results from a new global online survey yesterday.